Ravana, the symbol of evil, has also been feeling the impact of inflation and has been cut to size – quite literally – this Dussehra here.

Ramlila organisers have been forced to reduce the height of Ravana’s effigy and also do away with the burning of Meghnath and Kumbhakarna, both brothers of Ravana, on the occasion of Dussehra this year.

“We have no option but to take measures like these owing to rising prices. Over the years the cost of preparing the effigies has gone up considerably. This year we have decided to reduce the height of Ravana’s effigy by about ten feet,” said Satish Agnihotri, convener of one of the Ramlila committees in the state capital.

“Last year we had spent around Rs 40,000 on making the effigy of Ravana. This time the cost was estimated at Rs 50,000. We decided to reduce the height and thus reduce the expenditure,” he remarked.

Obviously the committees did not want the burning effigies to burn a hole in their pockets as well.

Another Ramlila committee at Raniganj locality in the state capital has also reduced the size of Ravana’s effigy. “This year the size has been cut down to 50 feet from 55 feet last year,” the organisers said.

At some places, the organisers have decided only to burn Ravana’s effigy and not the effigies of Meghnath and Kumbhakarna. A Ramlila Committee at Sadar locality, which used to burn the effigies of all three will this year only burn Ravana’s effigy.

“We simply can not afford the rising cost,” said Raghunath Gupta, the manager of the committee.

Some small Ramlila committees have decided to simply do away with the burning of the effigies. “Many small committees have stopped the programmes,” Gupta added.